Big tech is thriving despite the layoffs::undefined
6 points
On handling downloaded songs and offline playback, my personal (but informed) opinion is that there is:
- some licensing reasons for it to be more complicated than strictly necessary
- lack of interest of supporting an app feature that doesn’t drive numbers immediately up (sure, I agree that a better offline experience would improve the product and help user retention, but it isn’t easy/quick to measure its impact), and
- lack of ownership with many teams having to support a functionality (keep the app working offline) within all the various app features they own.
So, just as a dog with multiple owners, it goes neglected and starves.
4 points
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Ah, yeah, same stuff as always. Management.
The licensing part I did think about, but the songs are in a proprietary format anyway (I think?) and any keys or whatever can be refreshed without streaming the entire song over a slow connection.
Thank you for your detailed answer!
